This is a plugin that makes tmux behave more like a typical
dynamic window manager. It is heavily inspired by i3wm, and
most keybindings are taken directly from there. However, I have made
some adjustments to make these keybindings more consistent with vim:
using hjkl instead of
jkl; for directions, and
using vim's definitions of "split" and "vsplit". There is also an
"easy mode" available for non-vim users, which uses arrow keys
instead of hjkl.
The plugin has been verified to work on tmux v1.9, v2.6, v2.7, v2.9, and v3.0.
Some features are only available on newer versions of tmux (currently v2.7+),
but I hope to provide at least basic support for most tmux versions in active use.
If you encounter any problems, please file an issue and I'll try to look into it.
Okay, so who is this plugin for anyway? You may be interested in this if:
- You're using or interested in using
tmux, but find the default keybindings a bit clunky. This lets you try out an alternative keybinding paradigm, which uses a modifier key (Alt) instead of a prefix key (Ctrl + b). The plugin also makes it easier to do automatic tiling viatmuxlayouts, as opposed to splitting panes manually. - You use
i3wm, but also do remote work overssh+tmux. This lets you use similar keybindings in both contexts. - You also use other platforms like Gnome, Mac, or WSL. You want to take
your
i3wmmuscle memory with you viatmux. - You're not really using
i3wmanymore, but you did like how it handled terminals and workspaces. You'd like to keep working that way in terminals, without usingi3wmorswayfor your whole desktop. - You use a window manager that is similar to
i3wm, e.g.dwm, and want to have that workflow intmuxtoo.
The easiest way to install this plugin is via the Tmux Plugin Manager.
Just add the following to ~/.tmux.conf, then press Ctrl + b
followed by Shift + i to install it (assuming default prefix key):
set -g @plugin 'jabirali/tmux-tilish'
For tmux v2.7+, you can customize which layout is used as default for new workspaces.
To do so, add this to ~/.tmux.conf:
set -g @tilish-default 'main-vertical'
Just replace main-vertical with one of the layouts from the tmux man page:
| Description | Name |
|---|---|
| split then vsplit | main-horizontal |
| only split | even-vertical |
| vsplit then split | main-vertical |
| only vsplit | even-horizontal |
| fully tiled | tiled |
The words "split" and "vsplit" refer to the layouts you get in vim when
running :split and :vsplit, respectively. (Unfortunately, what is called
a "vertical" and "horizontal" split varies between programs.)
If you do not set this option, tilish will not autoselect any layout; you
can still choose layouts manually using the keybindings listed below.
After performing the steps above, you should read the list of keybindings. For further configuration options:
- If you use
nvimorvim, consider integrating it withtilish. - If you do not use
vimorkak, consider activating easy mode. - If you use
kakoremacs, consider activating prefix mode. - If you use
tmuxwithini3wmorsway, see this section. - If you like
dmenu, check out the application launcher. - If it doesn't work, check your terminal settings.
It is also recommended that you add the following to the top of your .tmux.conf:
set -s escape-time 0
set -g base-index 1
The first line prevents e.g. Esc + h from triggering the
Alt + h keybinding, preventing common misbehavior when
using vim in tmux. This option is automatically set by tmux-sensible, if
you use that. The second line makes workspace numbers go from 1-10 instead of 0-9,
which makes more sense on a keyboard where the number row starts at 1. However,
tilish explicitly checks this setting when mapping keys, and works fine without it.
Finally, here is a list of the actual keybindings. Most are taken from i3wm.
Below, a "workspace" is what tmux would call a "window" and vim would call a "tab",
while a "pane" is what i3wm would call a "window" and vim would call a "split".
| Keybinding | Description |
|---|---|
| Alt + 0-9 | Switch to workspace number 0-9 |
| Alt + Shift + 0-9 | Move pane to workspace 0-9 |
| Alt + hjkl | Move focus left/down/up/right |
| Alt + Shift + hjkl | Move pane left/down/up/right |
| Alt + o | Move focus to next pane |
| Alt + Enter | Create a new pane at "the end" of the current layout |
| Alt + s | Switch to layout: split then vsplit |
| Alt + Shift + s | Switch to layout: only split |
| Alt + v | Switch to layout: vsplit then split |
| Alt + Shift + v | Switch to layout: only vsplit |
| Alt + t | Switch to layout: fully tiled |
| Alt + z | Switch to layout: zoom (fullscreen) |
| Alt + r | Refresh current layout |
| Alt + n | Name current workspace |
| Alt + Shift + q | Quit (close) pane |
| Alt + Shift + e | Exit (detach) tmux |
| Alt + Shift + c | Reload config |
The Alt + 0 and Alt + Shift + 0
bindings are "smart": depending on base-index, they either act on workspace 0 or 10.
The keybindings that move panes between workspaces assume a US keyboard layout.
However, you can configure tilish for international keyboards by providing a string
@tilish-shiftnum prepared by pressing Shift +
1234567890.
For instance, for a UK keyboard, you would configure it as follows:
set -g @tilish-shiftnum '!"£$%^&*()'
Your terminal must support sending keycodes like M-£ for the above to work.
For instance, a UK keyboard layout works fine on urxvt, but does not work
by default on kitty or alacritty, which may require additional configuration.
To make the plugin more accessible for people who do not use vim as well,
there is also an "easy mode" available, which uses arrow keys instead of
the vim-style hjkl keys.
This mode can be activated by putting this in your .tmux.conf:
set -g @tilish-easymode 'on'
The revised keybindings for the pane focus and movement then become:
| Keybinding | Description |
|---|---|
| Alt + ←↓↑→ | Move focus left/down/up/right |
| Alt + Shift + ←↓↑→ | Move pane left/down/up/right |
Note that this feature is currently only available in tmux v2.4+.
The "prefix mode" uses a prefix key instead of Alt, and
may be particularly interesting for users of editors like kak and
emacs that use Alt key a lot. To activate this mode, you
define a prefix keybinding in your tmux.conf. For instance, to use
Alt + Space as your tilish prefix, add:
set -g @tilish-prefix 'M-space'
Actions that would usually be done by Alt + key
are now accomplished by pressing the prefix and then key.
For example, opening a split is usually Alt + Enter,
but with the above prefix this becomes Alt + Space
then Enter. Note that the tilish prefix is different from
the tmux prefix, and should generally be bound to a different key.
For the prefix key, you can choose basically any keybinding that tmux
supports, e.g. F12 or C-s or anything else you may prefer.
All these keybindings are repeat'able, so you do not have to press the
prefix key again if you type multiple commands fast enough. Thus, pressing
Alt + Space followed by hj would
move to the left and then down, without requiring another prefix activation.
The tmux option repeat-time can be used to customize this timeout.
Personally, I find the default 500ms timeout somewhat short, and would
recommend that you increase this to at least a second if you use tilish:
set -g repeat-time 1000
In i3wm, the keybinding Alt+d is by default mapped to
the application launcher dmenu, which can be practical to quickly open apps.
If you have fzf available on your system, tilish can offer a similar
application launcher using the same keyboard shortcut. To enable this
functionality, add the following to your ~/.tmux.conf:
set -g @tilish-dmenu 'on'
Basically, pressing Alt+d will then pop up a split
that lets you fuzzy-search through all executables in your system $PATH.
Selecting an executable runs the command in that split. When you want
to start an interactive process, this can be more convenient than
using Alt+Enter and typing the command name.
This is currently only available in tmux v2.7+.
Not all terminals support all keybindings. The plugin has been verified
to work well with: iTerm2 and Terminal.app on macOS; alacritty, kitty,
terminator, gnome-terminal, and urxvt on Linux; wsltty and alacritty
on Windows. Some of these terminals bind Alt+Enter to
fullscreen, so you have to disable that for the tilish "new pane" binding to
work. Moreover, gnome-terminal steals the "switch workspace" keybindings
Alt+0-9 if you open multiple tabs. If you
use macOS, you likely want to configure the Option key to send either Esc+
(iTerm2) or Meta (Terminal.app) under the keyboard settings of the app.
It is also worth noting that iTerm2 allows you to swap the Cmd and Option
keys in the terminal app. I recommend giving this a try if you're on macOS,
since the Cmd is more ergonomic than the Option key for extended use.
If you use xterm, almost none of the Alt keys work by default.
That can be fixed by adding this to ~/.Xresources:
XTerm*eightBitControl: false
XTerm*eightBitInput: false
XTerm.omitTranslation: fullscreen
XTerm*fullscreen: never
The same issue affects Alacritty on macOS; see this issue for a proposed solution.
If you use tilish inside i3wm or sway, keybindings like
Alt+Enter may spawn a new terminal in your window manager
instead of a new terminal pane inside tmux. The window manager always takes
priority — so if both i3wm and tilish define the same keybinding,
i3wm will intercept the keybinding before tmux sees it.
The best way to solve this is perhaps to change your window manager modifier key
to Super, also known as the "Windows key". As described
in the i3wm user guide, this can
be done by changing $mod to Mod4 in your i3wm config. That way, pressing e.g.
Alt+Enter opens a new terminal pane inside tmux, while
Super+Enter opens a new terminal in i3wm.
Alternatively, tilish also supports a Prefix mode. This is in my opinion
less ergonomic than the default tilish keybindings. However, it does not require the use
of Alt, and is therefore compatible with the default i3wm keybindings.
There are two great plugins tmux-navigate and vim-tmux-navigator,
which both allow seamless navigation between vim splits and tmux splits.
The former has an advantage that it also works over ssh connections, and that
it plays better with zooming (Alt+z). If you use either
plugin, you can tell tilish to make it setup the keybindings for you. (If you
don't, tilish will use fallback keybindings that don't integrate with vim.)
It is perhaps easiest to setup tmux-navigate. Just load navigate after tilish
in your tmux.conf, and set the option @tilish-navigate to on to integrate them.
Thus a full working minimal example of a tpm-based tmux.conf would be:
# List of plugins.
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-sensible'
set -g @plugin 'jabirali/tmux-tilish'
set -g @plugin 'sunaku/tmux-navigate'
# Plugin options.
set -g @tilish-navigate 'on'
# Install `tpm` if needed.
if "test ! -d ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm" \
"run 'git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm && ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/bin/install_plugins'"
# Activate the plugins.
run -b "~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm"
No further setup is required; tilish sets up the keybindings, and navigate
handles seamless navigation of vim/nvim splits. However, if you also want
this seamless navigation over ssh connections, you should install
the accompanying vim plugin; see their website for more information.
To install vim-tmux-navigator, you should first install the plugin for vim
or nvim, as described on their website. Then place this in your
~/.config/nvim/init.vim (nvim) or ~/.vimrc (vim):
noremap <silent> <m-h> :TmuxNavigateLeft<cr>
noremap <silent> <m-j> :TmuxNavigateDown<cr>
noremap <silent> <m-k> :TmuxNavigateUp<cr>
noremap <silent> <m-l> :TmuxNavigateRight<cr>
You then just have to tell tilish that you want the integration:
set -g @tilish-navigator 'on'
A minimal working example of a ~/.tmux.conf with tpm would then be:
# List of plugins.
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-sensible'
set -g @plugin 'jabirali/tmux-tilish'
# Plugin options.
set -g @tilish-navigator 'on'
# Install `tpm` if needed.
if "test ! -d ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm" \
"run 'git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm && ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/bin/install_plugins'"
# Activate the plugins.
run -b "~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm"
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